After an hour or two on flight, we all reached to the third examination site. When everyone got off the airship, I realized that we landed on top of a really huge, really tall tower. What are we supposed to do here?
"Are we on top of a tower?" Leorio asked
"I think so." Kurapika answered
"Maybe we fight each other?" Gon questioned
"No, I think we listen to that" Killua said as he pointed to some speakers around the tower.
There were noises coming from the speakers as we hear a voice coming from it.
"Welcome to Trick Tower. This is the third part of the Hunter's Exam. The only thing to do in Trick tower is to reach to the bottom within seventy-two hours. That's all. I wish you all good luck" The speakers shut off and people already started looking around for a way down.
"Three days to get to the bottom of the tower huh?" I said while looking around.
"It may sound easy but I bet it's a lot tougher than you think." Kurapika said
"So, how will we get down?" Gon asked
"This tower is just a really tall wall. I bet climbing down would be considered suicide." Leorio said
"You actually said something smart Leorio" I said as a tease
"Hey! I'm not that dumb Aoi!" Leorio shouted
"I know. I was just messing with you Leorio" I said while patting his shoulder.
"Let's go find a way down. We're gonna waste time if we fool around" Killua said
"Yeah you're right. I think we should split up to look for clues." I suggested
"I agree with Aoi" Kurapika said as he nodded his head
With that, we all split up and looked around the tower for ways to get to the bottom. After what seem like a half hour, I noticed that there were less people up here. It's as if there was a secret entrance to get inside this tower.
"Guys! Check this out!" Gon shouted as we all regrouped around him.
"Gon seemed to have found an entrance to this tower" Killua said
"Nice Gon! How did you find it?" Leorio said
"I was using my nose to smell the area and this floor right here smelled different than the other tiles" Gon said
I kneeled to the ground and lifted up a tile. There was a passage to get inside but it was immediately blocked by a trap.
"What the?" I said confused
"It seems that there are different entrances to get inside. I think it only sets off when a person goes through it." Kurapika said
"So it'll be one person per entrance" Killua added
"Well I smelled 5 entrances that are close to each other" Gon said
"Where is that?" I asked
Gon walked forward a bit and pointed to us five different tiles right next to each other. They were formed in a circle. Perfect for five people to go through.
"One of these could be a trap" Kurapika said
"It's better than being stuck up here. I'd take the risk" Killua said
"So let's all just pick a time and jump in on three" Leorio said.
So we all picked a tile to jump through and waited for the signal.
"Ready everyone?" Gon said
I nodded my head as we started the countdown.
"one"
"two"
"three!"
We all jump at the same time and I see all of my friends going through their entrance and I hit the tile really hard. My entrance didn't open up.
"Ouch...what the heck!?" I said while trying to lift up the tile.
I looked through and saw that it was already blocked. I'm trapped up here! Everyone just left me behind!
"Oh great...Kurapika and the others are already down there and I'm stuck up here. This is so ridiculous" I said while walking around for another entrance to go through.
I spent the next hour looking for another entrance and I couldn't find any. I went back to the circle of tiles everyone went through and started tapping on each tile. It doesn't make sense that there isn't another entrance around.
"Where is this stupid entrance!?" I screamed as I stomped on a random tile really hard.
The tile I stomped on just so happened to open up and I fell right through it.
"Ahh!" I screamed while being startled by it.
I was going down a hole and just when I see some light up ahead, I fell straight to the ground.
"Ouch!"
"Hey! It's Aoi!"
"huh?" I looked up to see that it was all of my friends
"Well look who finally dropped in" Leorio said in a sarcastic tone
"Glad to see you made it Miss Aoi" Killua said while placing his arms behind his head
"What took you so long to get here Aoi?" Kurapika asked
"Well, when we all jumped, my entrance was already trapped so I got stuck up there. I thought made your way down without me." I said while chuckling.
"Don't worry. I would've never left you alone. We waited for you" Kurapika said as he smiled at me
I could tell that I was blushing. Kurapika is a kind person. I like that.
"Sorry about that Aoi, I didn't know it was already a trap" Gon said while scratching his cheek
"Don't worry about it Gon. I'm here now. That's what matters. So shall we move on?" I said
"Well you didn't really miss much but here." Killua passed a bracelet like device to me
"What is it?" I asked
"We don't know. We found it when we got here" Leorio said
There was only one door in the room we're in. A television monitor just happened to pop out right when I put the bracelet on. The screen showed a dark figure and it spoke to us.
"Welcome. It looks like the five of you has taken the 'Majority Rule' path. This is where you will have to work together as a team. There are two buttons on each device. An 'O' and an 'X'. Those two buttons are there for you to make your decisions as you get further down the tower. There is also a timer for you all to keep track before this exam ends. I wish you all good luck"
"Well this should be easy, we're all friends here. There's no way we would disagree on anything" Leorio said in a cocky tone
"Very well. Here's an easy first question. If you want to advance, Press 'O', if not, then press 'X'" said the voice
We all proceeded to press 'O' and the door opened up. We started going through the door and walked down the hall. We were all walking in silence since we don't know what to expect.
We eventually entered a two way passage. Both ways are locked by a door and the figure on the screen popped out again to speak to us.
"If you want to go right, press 'O', if you want to go left, press 'X'" said the figure
I wonder what everyone else will press. Judging between left and right, usually people who are new with directions picks left and they always end up in a trap. So I think picking right would be a good answer for all of us. I pressed the 'O' button and the screen showed our choices. There were 3 'O' and 2 'X'. The right door opened up and we all started walking through.
"Huh? I thought going left was a good idea" Leorio said
"No, right is a better option." Killua said
"And why is that?" Leorio asked
"Going left is what many people who are lost usually chooses. Going left always lead to either the wrong way or a trap." I said
"Aoi is correct Leorio." Kurapika said
"I see. I guess we're both simple-minded. Right Gon?" Leorio said as he winked at Gon.
"So I'm on the same level as Leorio?" Gon said in a sad tone
"What do you mean by that Gon!?" Leorio shouted
"Don't worry Gon. No one is going to be on the same level as Leorio." I said, comforting Gon
"I heard that Aoi!" Leorio said
"Oh whatever do you mean Leorio? I didn't say anything" I said while smiling
"Yeah whatever" Leorio said as he started to sulk
We continued to follow the path until we reached to the entrance of an arena. This area had a ring in the middle but the ring was surrounding by a bottomless pit. The opposite side of the room has a door and there were five people with cloaks standing there.
"Who are they?" Gon asked
"Where the heck are we?" Leorio said
One of the five people started to walk up and remove his cloak. He was a middle aged man, very well built and had a major scar across his face. He also had handcuff's around him until it was taken off and fell to the ground.
"Welcome to the arena, the five of us here to hired to fight each of you to prevent you from passing. These fight's will be one on one matches and no same person is allowed to fight twice. In order to move on, you must win three fights. If you accept this battle, press 'O'. If you quit, press 'X'."
This is actually pretty interesting. Finally I get to fight without having to kill someone. I quickly pressed 'O' on my bracelet and the screen showed five 'O's.
"Very well. I'll be the first person to fight. I don't need to introduce myself because I already know I'm going to win" The man said with a smirk.
"So, whose going first?" Leorio said while looking at each of us.
"I'll go!" Gon shouted
"No, I'll go, From the looks of this guy, he looks pretty strong. If you fight him Gon, you may be at a disadvantage." Kurapika said
"And what makes you think you'll win Kurapika? You're a scrawny guy too" Leorio said
"Do you plan on fighting him then?" Kurapika asked annoyed
"Uh...not really" Leorio said
"If you guys are going to be babies, then I'll go" Killua said as he was about to go
"No" I said which caused everyone to look at me. "I'll go. This is going to be pretty interesting"
I stepped up and a small bridge popped out to guide me to the ring. At first the man was surprised to see me come up but then turned back to his cocky self
"Well well" he said while cracking his knuckles "I didn't expect to fight the pretty lady. I was expecting to fight that kid" He pointed at Killua.
"Sorry sir but I'll be your opponent for today. Also, I'm not just a girl, I'm a lot stronger than you think" I said as I took my fighting stance. My flute is not needed with this guy.
"Okay, if you say so girl." With that, the man headed straight at me, getting ready to throw a punch.
Just as he was about to punch me, I jumped up and gracefully dodged him. I landed and stood on his right shoulder.
"you missed" I said while I jumped to the ground
"What!? No girl has ever dodged my punches before!" He shouted, surprised
"I told you already, I'm not just some ordinary girl" I said a bit annoyed
I was a bit disappointed because I thought my fight was going to be interesting but it wasn't. He was boring me. Knocking him out right now would be too easy. I guess I'll just have to play around with him. Maybe my cello would be perfect for him.
So, with my nen abilities, I summoned my cello from my necklace. My cello is mainly used for controlling another human being. So basically, I could use to this make people my puppets. Just like how Shalnark can use his cell phone to control people.
"What, you're gonna play music for me with that thing?" The man said as he laughed
I jumped up as he tried to throw another punch at me and I used my bow to whack him which caused him to stumble.
"Heh, you're a lot stronger than I thought" He said
"Never judge a girl by looks" I said while smirking.
In order for me to control this guy, I needed a strand of his hair to wrap around my bow. The only disadvantage is that the man is bald. So I can't get hair from him, but I can get some of his blood on my bow.
"I'll make sure you don't dodge this time!" He started running towards me at full speed
I was running down the ring to try and get a good jump to go over him. I tried to jump but he managed to grab my foot.
"I got you now!"
He was spinning me around and was about to slam me to the ground until I used my bow and cut his arm. His blood splattered and some of it got on my bow.
"Gah!"
He let go of me and I jumped 10 feet away from him. Close call. I would've almost gotten myself hurt.
"How clever. You used your stupid bow to make a small cut on my arm" He wiped off some blood and licked it
I shuddered at how disgusting that was. Now that I have his blood. All is going according to my plan.
"Sorry to break it to you sir. But this match is about to be over" I said
"And what makes you think that?" he asked
"Because I'm about to make you give up" I said while placing my bow on my cello and playing a couple of notes
"What the hell!? I can't move my body!" The man was just standing there, using all the strength he has to move an inch. "What did you do to me!?"
"Simple, I needed to make you my puppet. But since you were bald, I used your blood on my cello to get control of you." I said as I played a couple of musical patterns to make him dance around
"Stop! You're making me look like a fool!" He shouted
I looked at my friends and they all seemed to be amazed at what I was doing. I looked at Kurapika and he was looking at me in a weird way. His facial expression was different than everyone else's.
"Okay, I'm bored with you now." I played some notes to make him stop dancing
"A-Are you going to make me kill myself?" He asked
"Nope" I said because I'm not like that anymore. "You're just going to say that you give up"
I played a scale and made the man raise his right arm and said whatever I commanded him too. I made him give up the match and gave victory to us.
"Alright Aoi! That was freaking awesome!" Leorio screamed from across the hall.
I wiped my bow off and placed the cello back into my necklace. I walked up to the man to shake hands with him.
"That was a fun match. Never underestimate a girl again" I said while smiling
The man looked at me but then shook my hand
"Heh. It was pretty interesting to lose to a girl. But I enjoyed the match." he said
We both headed back to our group.
"Aoi! that was really cool! I didn't know you're that strong! I'm so excited!" Gon said in a cheery tone
"Yeah. You're a really tough person Miss Aoi" Killua said while smiling towards me
"Haha. I've been training for many years. So I know what I'm doing" Which is true. Chrollo and the others has trained me when I was new at the group.
I looked at Kurapika and he was giving me a weird stare. Did I do something wrong?
"Aoi..." was the only thing Kurapika can say
"Yea Kurapika?" I asked looking at him
"Have you...did you...actually nevermind me" He said as he came back to reality from his stare
"Huh? Are you okay Kurapika?" I placed my hand on my his forehead. Blushing at the fact that I'm touching his face
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me" Kurapika said as he smiled at me.
He grabbed my hand and brought it down gently. His hand was soft and it was making me blush at the fact that he's holding onto my hand.
"I just thought of something silly. That's all" Again, he smiled at me.
"Okay. If you say so" I smiled back.
"I'm next!" screamed one of the people from the other group.
This person took their cloak and cuffs off and it revealed to be a very skinny man who looks very fragile.
"I am Setokon. I will be the next opponent. Who will come and join me?" He asked
"Me!" Gon screamed and ran towards the ring without letting anyone else have a say
"Aw man. I wanted to go next" Leorio said as he sulked
"It's okay Leorio, Gon probably has a reason for wanting to go next" I said
I would always have faith in Gon. He's a very smart kid. Now I get to see Gon's skills. Let's see how interesting this kid is.